I still would have been happy if Hawthorn won, but was a close, unpredictable, exciting match. As you said after the 15th minute it was obvious on who was going to win. So much build up to the grand final, even a public holiday but the match stank.
If that is supposed to be a game between ''the two best teams'' the AFL has serious problems.
Definitely. West Coast had no excuses either, they got a week off as well during the Semi-Finals. Hawthorn had to do it the hard way this year, every finals match.
It just proves that ladder position doesn't necessarily stick during the finals1. Fremantle - W-L- (Defeated by Hawthorn)
2. West Coast - W-WL (Defeated by Hawthorn)
3. Hawthorn - LWWW
4. Sydney - LL-- (Defeated by North Melbourne)
5. Richmond - L--- (Defeated by North Melbourne)
6. Western Bulldogs - L--- (Defeated by Adelaide)
7. Adelaide - WL-- (Defeated by Hawthorn)
8. North Melbourne - WWL- (Defeated by West Coast)
You can see there that 5/6 position eliminated at the first hurdle, 8th made it through to prelims, 7 to semis and so on... I reckon there needs to be a system change of sorts to stop this scenario happening again (e.g. Hawthorn winning 3 possibly more in a row).